Method of converting hydrocarbon oils



LIL/144291253.

2 SHEETS-sum1.

WLF. MUEHL. 4 METHOD 0F CQNVERTINQHY'DROCARBON OILS. msn Aue. l1, 1922.

Feb. 6, y 19523.,

Feb. 6, 1923.

W. F. IVIUEHL. METHOD 0F CONVERTING HYDROCARBON OILS.

SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FILED AUG. l?, 1922.

METHOD OF CONVERTENG HYDRCAREN GEES.

Application led August 1 7, 1922. Serial No. 5854916.

To all whom/'15 0:1513/ Concern lie it known lthat l, lVILLIAM i". ilu/iran.. a citizen ot the lUnited States, residing at Kansas lCity, in the county ot Jackson and State ot' Missouri, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Methods ot @onverting Hydrocarbon @iisg and l do declare the following to be attull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reti erence being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures ot reference marked thereon` which form a partL of this speciiication.

Y This invention relates to a method ot c'onverting hydrocarbon oils having a high boiling point into hydrocarbon oils having a lower boiling point and this application is a continuation in part ot' an application filed by me on or about June l5, 1922, Serial No. 568,493. A

rihe primary object of the invention is to provide a method tor improving the process tor converting' the heavier hydrocarbon oils into lighter hydrocarbon oils to provide a product commercially known as gasoline7 and another very important object of the invention is to provide mea-ns by which the process can be carried on continuously without shutting down the plant for cleaning, inspection or repairs, it being one ot the features of the invention that the bulk of the oil under treatment will maintain its temperature and pressure for a considerable period even after the planthas shut down.

It is further of prime importance that an eiiicient workable means be provided tor removing accumulated carbon from thel digester still into which the oil is introduced at a cracking temperature from the primary heater because by such an arrangement the digester can be kept clear of carbo-n and thereby allow acontinuous operation of the plant.

In all cracking plants ofy which li have knowledge the operations are intermittent, due to the fact that frequent shutdowns must -occur for the purpose of cleaning` out the carbon in the digesters. These shutdowns are of frequent occurrence and obviously when a plant is shut down for cleaning out carbon, the oil must be dr wn off and the plant must be allowed to cool with the resultant loss ot time and `fuel in t ie operation o the plant. The cooling and cleaning operation extends over a considerable period ot time so that before the plant can be started up again, additional time is lost and considerable Yfuel is consumed in bringing the oil to the proper cracking temperature.

My invention contemplates method. whereby the plant can be operated continuously over a considerable period of time in contra-distinction to the int rinittent operation of all plants of which l haveany knowledge. rThe continuous operation is accomplished by providing certain heaters which heat the liquid to the decomposing temperature, these heaters being arranged so that one may be cut out while the other is operated, or vice versa, and in order to assist in the accomplishment orp the desired result provide a primary cracking or vapor chamber, vsometimes called a digester, into which the heated oil is ted, losing` its velocity due to the capacity ot the chamber, so that the cracking or reaction can take place while the oil is practically quiescent, the advantage being` that the buoyancy ot the oil or its ability to support carbon in suspension is duced to a minimum and the carbon is permitted to gravitate to the bottom ot the zone or digester from which it can' be removed without interference` with the continuous user or" the vapor chamber the opera-tion of the plant.

rllhis is of great importance because aii plants of which l have knowledge must essentially be intermittent in their operations because no means has been provided to remove the carbon at the proper point in the system so that the reactions may continue while the carbon is beine removed. y

lin carrying out my invention the oil is first introduced into one of the digesters or vaporizing chambers to provide a relatively large volume. rlFhe oil may feed from it into primary heaters or tubular furnaces, at which point its temperature will be raised to a cracking temperature. rlhe oil passes in ascending streams through vertical tubes in the primary heaters or furnaces at a relatively rapid rate suiiicient to 'prevent deposition of carbon upon the inner surfaces'of thetubes and from there it is passed into a relatively large chamber or digester where the oil'accumulates in a relatively large volume. For example, the oil 'passes through the primary heaters at a decomposing temperature at a speed of about 16 to 2() feet per minute and discharges into the first diges'ter or vaporizing chamber at that temperature, where its velocity will have an appreciable drop, the primary digester or chamber being rela.- tively long in comparisonnto its diameter and the 'large volume of' oilV contained in the chamber causes the incoming oil from the primary heater to be practically dormant as to speed or movement to permit 'suicient time for decomposition to take place. The gases disengage themselves from the oil in this chamber and since the oil loses its buoy ancy due to the slowing-up of its speed, there is a deposition of carbon in the first digester or chamber. The oil preferably enters the digester at one end and the vapor passes out at the other. The discharge end of the first digester or chamber is connected to a second digester or chamber of substantially like dimensions and in the same horizontal plane for the purpose of maintaining the level in both chambers constant.

Immediately below the'outlet of the first tinuously allowing the carbon-to be removed from the bottom of the first digester 'or cracking chamber without interfering-with the proper decomposition of the oil-within it.

I haye provided means whereby the vapor:

of lighter hydrocarbons thrown off by the heated oil in the first digester .or 4chamber may be discharged into a dephlegmator in which it may pass up through a body of preheated oil at a temperature Yless than the decomposition temperature, the vapors being released at the bottom of the dephlegmator to pass through the oil therein and cause the vapors which are not condensed at the temperature conta-ined in the dephlegmator to pass into the condenser at atmospheric pressure and when condensed, they are removed from the bottom of the condenser while the non-condensible gases are withdrawn at the top of the condenser and returned to the primary heaters o r furnaces. The level of the preheated oilV within the dephlegmator is maintained constant by 'overflowing into the second digester or chamber above mentioned, where additional dis-r.

engagement of the vapors in the oil is aclpass back into thedephlegmator to combine with those lighter ends which have been fed 'into the dephlegmator from the first digester and with them pass into the condenser.

I have provided means whereby one of the primary heaters or furnaces may be cut ofi' without disturbing the operation of the other heater. The circuit thereby maybe continuously maintained, the pressure all the while being maintained constant throughout the apparatus except inthe condenser and the temperature in the second digester is all the while maintained approximately constant so that the system will be operating at approximately the same temperatures and pressures throughout; there being, of course, a slight variation" in temperatures in the various parts of the system due to natural Causes but it is important in my invention that the temperatures be maintained as nearly constant throughout as is practical in a system of this kind.

lVhile the drop in temperature in the system will be slight, it will be such as to cause the oil returning from the digester 2 to the heaters to enter the heaters below 'that which will permit cracking, but the heaters will raise the oil to a cracking temperature before it entersthe digester 1` IThe details of construction-of the invention as well as the novel results obtained will befapparent by reference tothe followingdescription in connection with the drawings, in which i Fig. 1 is a perspective diagrammatic View of` the complete system, certain parts being shown in section to better illustrate their construction.

Fig. 2 is anenlarged, longitudinal View of the primary digester or vaporizing vchamber shown partly 'in elevation and partly;V in section. f

Fig. 3 isa fragmentary, vertical, sectional view through the dephlegmator, and

Fig. LL is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional view through one of the preheaters.

Referring now to the drawings by numerals of'reference:

1 designates a digester or tank of appropriatejdimensions, considerably longer than its diameter, and 2 is a complementary or secondary digester, which is connected directly with the digester 1 through .the pipe 3 so that there will be corresponding liquid levels inthe two digesters. The digesters 2 has an outlet 4 at the end opposite to that at which the pipeS connects it to the digester 1. The outlet l discharges into a pipe 5 which,

in turn, empties into the primary heaters or furnaces for raising the oil to the decomposing` temperatures.

T he oil is first introduced into the digester 2 through any suitable means in order to provide the necessary volume to feed the primary heaters designated 6 and f7.; After the requisite amount of oil is supplied, the digester 2 becomes a secondaryv digester, as will be apparent hereinafter.

The heaters 6 and 7 are each provided with a lower header 8 and an upper header 9 connected by vertical tubes or pipes 10 and said tubes may be heated by the products of combustion from the fire box or lire boxes 11 of the furnace structure 12. r1`he flames may pass around the tubes 10 and out through a flue 13 through the horizontal tubes 14 of the preheater and thence to the stack 15 (see Figs. 1 and 4).

rlhe pipe 5 -connects directly into the header 8 of the heater 6 and a branch pipe 16 communicates the pipes and 5 with the header 8 (the lower header not shown) of the heater 7. Therefore, the eil can pass from the pipe 5 through pipe 5 directly into the header 8 of the heater 6 provided the valve 17 is cracked. lf the valve 16 in the b-ranch pipe 16 communicating with pipe 5 is cracked, the oil may pass into the lower header in t-he heater 7. lf the valve 17 is close-d, the heater 6 will be cut out of the system and if the valve 18 is closed, the heater 7 will be cut out of the system.

Assuming that both heaters 6 and 7 are operating,` the oil will have its temperature raised in the lower headers 8 so that it will pass at a. rapid rate through the tubes 10, the hot oil accumulating in thel upper headers 9and discharging into the pipe 2O having valves 21 and 22, one for each heater. The pipe 20 discharges into a. circulating pump 23, which control-s the velocity of the oil discharged from it into the inlet 24 of the primary digester 1. As the oil passes through the tubes 10, its velocity will be enough to prevent or at least reduce the liability of accumulation of carbon. lts velocity will be materially reduced when it enters the primary digester 1 because there will be a. relatively small stream feeding Vinto a relatively large volume of oil in the digester 1. Therefore, the oil will pass into the digester 1, its velocity being reduced and its buoyancy impaired. -Therefore, the carbon contained in the incoming oil will be allowed to gravitate to the bottom vof the dilgester 17 from which it may be scraped into a pit or sump 25 at the discharge end of' the digester 1.

The bottom of the sump communicates with a. pipe 26 connected to one end of an oil preheater 27 and in the pipe 26 is a. valve 28, provided with a. relatively large hand wheel 29 much like a lfly wheel that the operator can easily turn the `valve to it so as to momentarily open the pipe 213 allow the pressure in the tank or digester to blow the accumulated carbon from the "i" sump through the preheater into the pipe 50, which communicates with the accumulating tank 31 adapted to receive the asphaltum, carbon or other solids deposited in the sump.

lhe preheater 27 may be of any appropriate construction, for example, a tube may be provided in it with which the pipes 26 and 8O communicate. The oil from the supply tank 32 may be fed through the preheater in any appropriate manner so that there will be a heat exchange and the cold oil will absorb the heat generated in the preheatcr by passing the carbon and other deposits through it.

The oil is pumped from the tank by a pump 33, which communicates with th tank 32 through a pipe 34 and which c .emuni- Cates with the preheater 27 'through a pipe After the oil passes through the preheater 27, it will pass out through pipe through the space 37 in the prehcater 38 in which the tubes 14, are provided and thence through the pipe 39 to the bottom of the dephlegmiator 40, where it will be fed 'at a rate suicient to replenish the vaporized oil which has passed ofi' through the dephlegmator during the operation of the plant.

lt should be remembered, however, that in initially starting up .the plant, enough oil is supplied to the secondary digester or tank 2 to provide the requisite capacity of oil in the digesters 1 and 2. ln other words,

ducing suiticient oil through thev tank or digest/er 2 to allow the o-il to pass to the heaters and into the digesters 1 and 2 until the oil reaches the proper level in said digesters. The proper level in the digester 1 will be immediately below the screen 41, which is co-extensive with the proposed level of the oil therein. The screen will be described in detail hereinafter.

Attention is called to the fact that the vapor outlet for the digester 1 is shown as consisting'of a pipe 42 which discharges into the dephlegmator 40 and flows through a pipe 43 which discharges into a spider 44 in the bottom of the dephlegmator 40. The oil from 39 will maintain the level of the incoming oil in the dephlegmator 40 about midway the height of the dephlegmator casing because its flow-off is through pipe 45 which has its inlet above its discharge into the tank or digester 2. r[herefore`r the pipe 45 serves as an overflow pipe from the dephlegmator and the level of the oil in the deof the pipe 45.

The dephlegmator is provided with a plurality of bafiies. There are two sets, desig Iated 46 and 47. Those .designated 46 are co-eXtensive with the cross section of the dephlegmator but they are perforated. Those designated 47 are of less diameter than the dephlegmator and they alternate with those designated 46 so that a tortuous passage is provided to cause Aa tortuous flow of the lighter ends of the hydrocarbons Fwhich have escaped from the spider 44.

From the vapor space 48 of the dephlegmator the vapors pass through a'pipe 50 connected tothe top of the condenser 51 and in the pipe 50 is a constant pressure valve 52 which will allow the vapors to pass into the condenser 51 at atmospheric pressure'. The condenser may be of any appropriate construction; it can have a header at A the top and bottom connected by a tube, the

top header being connected by an inlet water pipe' 53 and the bottom header -by a discharge water pipe 54 or vice versa, so that the water will flow through the condenser and cool the incoming vapors received from the pipe 50. The condensed vapors within the condenser 51 will discharge through pipe 55, as will also some non-condensible gases, the latter being adapted to pass up through the pipe 56 and be drawn into the pipe 57 through the medium of the pump 58 where the non-condensed vapors or gases may be fed back into the lower headers of the primary furnaces. The liquefied vapors, however, Will pass from pipe 55 into a measuring tank 59 and through a meter 60 into a storage tank 61.

After the plant has been started, the oil will be supplied from the supply tank 32 through the pump 33 through the first preheater 27, through the second preheater 38, through pipe 39 into the dephlegmator, overflowing into pipe 45 and into the sec ondary digester 2,y through pipe 5 and through pipe 5 directly into the lower header of the heater 6, or it may flow into the'lower header -of the heater 7 or into both heaters together.

After the oil is heated it will pass up through the upper headers of the heaters 6 and 7, the circulating pump 23 inducing it to flow into the quiescent zone or primary digester 1` where its velocity will be retarded and time enough given to it to undergo a transition of the oil into vapor or to' give neous matter is introduced intothe digester i 1 with.the vapors or oil from the pipe 24, thel meshes of the screen will arrest them.

Therefore, the oil which overflows through` the screen through pipe 3 into the secondary digester 2 will have the carbonremoved before it enters the digester 2 and for that reason it will not be necessary to have any screen in the digester 2.

The supply of liquid will not beldiminished beca-use there will be fresh oil coming into the dephlegmator all the time and its overflow will find its way into the digester 2 through the medium of the pipe 45 and from the digester 2 -to the primary heaters 6 and 7.

In order to remove the carbon from the primary digester l without disturbing the operation of the system in any way, I have 'provided a scraper 62, which has a hanger 63 traveling on a guide rail 64 extending from end to end of the still 1. The scraper consists of a blade pivoted to the hanger at 65 and havinga b-ail 66 to which one end of the conveyor chain 67 is connected, the other end of the chain being connected to the hanger 63. The chain passes around an idler sprocket 68 and around a power sprocket 69. Thesprocket 69 is on a. shaft 70, carrying a beveled gea-r 71 with which meshes a beveled gear 72 on a shaft 73, pass-v ing through the stuffing box 74 and driven by an electric motor 75. The electric motor can be a reversing motor which will reverse .after it has made a certain number of turns. Such reversingmechanism is very common on the market andcan be readily supplied by numerous electrical manufacturers. Such devices work so that when there is a certain rotative movement of the motor shaft, the motor will reverse. Therefore, it is calculated to provide means so that the scraper can move longitudinally for a certain distance, enough to discharge the carbon to the sump, and then retrace its movementand since the pull on the bail 66 by the chain will be in a. rearward direction during the retractive movement, the blade- 62 will swing away .from the bottom of the tank. It will only work against the bottom of the tank or digester 1 when it is moving toward the sump, in 'which position it will be scraping the carbon into the sump. Whenever the sump is full it is obvious that the carbon, which is in a lsemi-liquid state, along with the tar and asphaltum,

I may be blown through the lpipe 26 when the valve 28 is cracked, as above described. rlhe hand wheel 29 is preferably really a Hy wheel which can be swung around in one direction to crack the valve and then quickly swung around in the other direction to close the valve.

lf it is desired to have a continuous discharge from the sump I may make use of the by-pass pipe 76, which bypasses' the valve 28 and whichin itself, is provided with a valve 77 which .may be slightlyV cracked to allow a continuous movement of deposited mattei' from the sump 25 into the preheater 27.

It is highly important that the carbon be removed at just'the point shown; that is, it is important that means -is provided for removal of the carbon from the primary digester or vapor zone because if means is not provided for removing the carbon at that particular point, there will be a settling of carbon in the digester 1, the result being that the plant must be shut down from time to time to clean the digester or tank 1 which impairs vitally one of the most important points of the invention; that is, to provide a continuous operation and as is well appreciated by those skilled in the art, the great difficulty with existing plants is the lack of ability to continue the operations over relatively long periods because if the plant has to be shut down for one-half of the time for inspection, cleaning or repairs, it is obvious that the plant is only as eliicient as it would be if it could be run continuously. There is not only a loss of time when a plant is yshut down but a great loss of fuel required to bring the plant back to operating temperatures.

These difficulties are not present in my -invention because can close offene priffl 5 mary heater 6 or 7 by closing'oi' the valves, say 17 and 22 for the heater 6 or the valves 18 and 21 for the heater 20, and the other heater can operate independently and theplant can be kept in operation.

lf it becomes necessary, however, to close off both heaters, there will not be such a great loss in time and consumption of fuel because the tanks or digesters 1 and 2 are of great capacity and they are, therefore, adapted to retain the oil in a hot state for a very long time, particularly is this true since both digesters" are heavily insulated to prevent the escape of heat.

It is also important to note that the tanks land 2 together have twice the capacity of one tank and twice the length of time is provided for vaporizing thev lighter ends. Therefore, the most eiiicient vaporization will take place. Of course, the oil is initially heated in the heaters 6 and 7 but it is -discharged at lits discharge Valve will be closed.

such a rapid rate from said heaters that it does not have the necessary time to crack or disintegrate until it reaches the primary digester 1.\ lt will there give up most of the lighter end vapors but in the event that there is vnot time enough for these to disassociate themselves from the heavier ends, the oil overflowing through pipe 3 into Athe secondary digester 2 will finally give up at least most of the lighter ends which may flow back through pipe 42 into the dephlegmator and combine with those passing through pipe 42 into the spider L14.

The heaters 6 and 7 may independently drain through the pipes 78 and 79 which communicate with the offtake pipe 80 and with the respective heaters. rl`he pipes 78 and 79 have valves 81 and 82. Therefore, when it is desired to cut outone heater for inspection or repairs, 4its drain valve will be opened, its inlet valve will be closed and For example, suppose it is desired to cut out heater 6; rthe valve 17 will be closed so that no supply of oil may enter the lower header 8. rl`he valve 22 will be closed because there will be no oil to pass into the digester 1. 'lhe valve 82 will be open s0 that all the oil may drain therefrom, the valves 18 and 21 may be opened so that the heater 7 may operate and, of course, in that event, the valve 81 will be closed because this valve controls the drain discharge from the heater 7.

Attention is called to the fact that after the system is initially charged by introducing oil into the digesters and the heaters are put into operation, there will be a cir culation started in the system due to the thermo-Siphon effect in the system, the pump 23 being'merely an accelerating pump to assist the thermo-Siphon effect in the system. As oil is generated into vapor and converted into gasoline, there will be a depletion of the supply originally furnished. This will be taken care of by the pump 88, which will draw oil from the tank 82, force it through the heaters 27 and 38 by means of the pipes 35 and 36, and cause it to enter the dephlegmator through the pipe 39. The pump 33 will be operated at a rate suiiicient to maintain a uniform supply commensurate with the'dravvn-oif gasoline from the pipe 55 to make up for the drawn-oft' residues which are discharged through pipe 26.

lt is desired to maintain a constant temperature of they oil within the heaters and the digesters 1 and 2. rlhis temperature will approximate 750 degrees F., and it is desired to maintain the pressure at about pounds to the square inch throughout the system except within the condenser, this being recommended as giving the best results. 0f course, there will be a drop of ternperaf ture in the dephlegmator due to the fact that the incoming oil will be appreciably lower in temperature than the vapors and it is estimated that this temperature will approximate 400 degrees F. The vapors leave the digesters 1 and 2 at about 700 degrees F. If they were introduced directly into the condenser, one of the objects of the present invention would be defeated but instead they are passed into the dephlegmator into'which oil at a v ry much lower tem-l perature than the vapors has been introduced. The vapors pass through the oil in the dephlegmator, percolating or bubbling up from the bottom as above explained. Therefore,the vapors give up some of their 'heat to the body of oil so that the temperature of the vapors is reduced to about LL00 degrees F., and it is the vapors at .this temperature which are introduced into the condenser.

It will, therefore, be apparent that in passing the high temperature vapors through the lower temperature oil in the dephlegmator only those volatile ends which will boil up to 400 degrees F., can go into the' condenser. As a matter 0f fact, even these will come in-.contact with the plates i-n the va-porchamber above the body'of oil while they are passing through the dephlegmator and, therefore, their Itemperatures will be further reduced so that actually the volatile ends passinointo the condenser past the reducing vave 52 will be slightly less than 400 degrees F., say about 37 5 degrees F.

As a result 0f this treatment, only those vapors of the lighter ends will be driven off, the heavier ends being condensed within the dephlegmator and returned, to be run back to the digester 2 and thence to the` 'heaters 6 and 7.

Ofcourse, it is to be understood thatby arranging the reducing valve 52, the pressures of the vaporspassing into the" condenser can be controlled. The reducing valve will cause the vapors to enter the condenser at approximately atmospheric pressure, the condensate passing off through the pipe 55 andthe fixed gases returned to the system through the pipe 57.

According to my plan then, the. formula may be stated as lieat plus. pressure plus volume equals per cent of recovery. The

generally acceptedtheory is heat plus pressure equals per cent but I iind that I obtain very high eiiciency by maintaining the oil in the system at a substantially constant pressure and at a 'substantially constant tem'- perature throughout and that by continuously introducing oil in roportion to the amount of yield and the dlscharged precipi- 'tated carbon, the volume is maintained constant. The low temperature oils not only serve as a replenishingmedium but they also constitute a. heat exchanging mediiim whereby the vapors of the relatively high boiling point Wll be reabsorbed back i into the system before they can enter the condenser, the obvious result bein a yield of hydrocarbon (gasoline) of relatively low boiling point. l

There is a special advantage in arranging thedigesters l and 2 above the heaters so that the oil will enterthe digester 1 and be absorbed by the large body of oil so that there will lbe no violent agitation. The importance of this is thatthe carbon may settle out in the digester 1 because, obviously, the less agitation in the digester, the more efficient will be the. settling out of the carbon. The settling out, however, may be materially assisted by the screens in the digester 1.

I estimate that the oil will pass through .the tubes in the heaters 6 and 7 at from 16 It should be remembered that the oil is quickly transferred from the heaters to the digesters 1 and 2 and it is introduced into the digesters in a liquid state where it disintegrates and vaporizes, passing into the dephlegmator where the lighter ends separate from the heavier and pass into the condenser.

Attention is called to the fact that I may take advantage of conservation of heat by utilizing any available heat in the system for raising` the temperature of the incoming oil and for that reason I prefer to run the oil through the preheaters 27 and 38.

Another important feature is that I arrange the digesters-so that their capacities are great enough to hold large bodies of oil.

It is, therefore, possible to cutout the heatiQo ers, make the necessary repairs, and cut them j.

back into the line without any appreciable loss of heat inthe major lbodies of oil. The importance of this will be thoroughly appreciated when it is considered that it requires about twelve hours to raise the temperature of the oil from itsqgoriginal temperature to the decomposing temperature whereas with my invention the major portion of the heat is conserved in the digester while the repairs are taking place, it being understood,- of course, that the digesters are thoroughly insulatedjwith lagging or suitable covering.

It is important that the system be a closed system SO that the oil can be continuously* which is required to keep the volumes in.

circulated through it. The only fresh oil which is introduced into the system is thjfat the digesters and heaters constant.

It is further of prime importance that the carbon be removed in the iirst digester 1 and if necessary from the second digester 2. There are peculiar conditions existent in the digesters 1 and 2 diderentiating my invention materially from other known construetions. That is, the /carbon is deposited in the firstgdigester in a semi-liquid or semi-plastic condition and it gravitates to the bottom of the carbon to become baked on the inside ofl the digester and because the steel of the digester has an affinity for c arbon, it adheres so intimately that it can be removed only with great difficulty. Ordinarily scrapers are not able to take olf the carbon so that the carbon deposits build up while the Scrapers ride over them, the result being that the scrapers in practice do not perform the functions for which they are intended.

'By depositing the carbon in the digesters to which no heat is applied, this baking will not take place so thatY the Scrapers can remove the carbon in its semi-liquid or semiplastic condition. Y

y Attention is also called to thefact that the screen in the rst digesterprevent's ebullition of the oil and, therefore, causes a more eilicient distillgt-ion than is possible where the oil is in a constant state-of agitation. It may be well to state here that it is desirable t0 move the scraper very slowly `through the digester so that .the liquid will not be unduly agitated `or stirred, which would have a tendency to maintain the carbon in suspension. It is desired to have the liquid in the digester 1 as quiet as possible so that the maximum evaporationmay take place and so that practically all of the `carbon will be deposited in the bottom of thefdigester 1.Y Of course, the screen will vtend to screen out the carbon in the liquid which would overflow from thedigester 1 to digester 2 so it is estimated that very little, if any, carbon can get into vthe digester 2.

lf I find it desirable, however, l may place a carbon remover in the digester 2 although ordinarilybelieve it will not be necessary.` It will be apparent that the organization is quite complete, that it is a truly continuo us process and that a high degree of eiclency can be obtained due to the long time element allowed for the disintegration of the oil after it has been heated up to high tem.-

vperatures.' The accessibility of thegpartsand zone in vertically ascending streams byso positively inducing the rate of flow that the. oil is not cracked during its passage thro-ugh the heating zone, passing the oil thus heated from the heating zone into one end of`a horizontal,` elongated, insulated digester and overowing itfrom the other end whereby Vthe oil collects in a considerable volume to provide a large body of oil in a quiescent state so that it is maintained at a cracking temperature for a prolonged period without further addition of heat, and wherein the velocity of the incoming oil is reduced to 1 ature, passing the oil through the heating permit carbon precipitation, cracking and vaporization o'f the oil in the digester all the `while maintaining super-atmospheric pressure upon the oil, scraping the carbon from the bottom of the digester to one end thereof,'re'movi'ng the same, all .without agitating the oil in the digester, returning the unvaporized overflowing oil from the digester to the heating zone, and leading od' the vapors from the digester.

2. The method of continuously converting hydrocarbon oil of high boiling point into hydrocarbon oil of lower boiling point, whichconsists in subjecting the oil of high boiling point to a'heating zone to raise it to a cracking temperature, passing the oil through the heating zone in vertically ascending streams by so positively inducing the rate of flow that the oilis not cracked during its passage through the heating zone, passing the oi l thus heated from the heating zone into one end of a horizontal, elongated digester, and overflowing it from the other end, whereby the oil collects in a considerable volume to provide a large body of oil in a quiescent state so that it is maintained at digester, returning the unvaporized overflowing oil from the digester to the heating zone` izo flowing .fresh oil in heat exchanging relation with the removed carbon sludge, further passing the fresh oil in heat exchanging re- ,lation with the waste products. of combustion from the furnace, leading the oil thus preheated intol a dephlegmator Where the preheated oil accumulates in a pool, leading the vapors from the digester into the dephlegmaton to cause them to pass through the oil pool, maintaining the pressure in the dephlegmatork approximately the same as that in the digester, passing the uncondensed vapors from the dephlegmator through a condenser maintained at atmospheric pressure, andleading'the fresh oil from the pool to the heating zone` to pass therethrough into the digester.

In testimony Whereofl aflx my signature.

WILLIAM F. MUEHL. 

